Bhasmasura

Sources describe Bhasmasura as born of the bhasma (ash) dust on Shiva’s body and as a devotee of Shiva who received a supernatural boon from that god. The boon granted him the ability to burn to ash anyone whose head he touched with his hand. After receiving the power he grew arrogant and attempted to test it even against Shiva, producing a crisis that required Vishnu’s intervention in the Mohini form. The tale is attested in regional literature and performance traditions rather than in the major Puranic corpus.

No detailed canonical physical description is supplied in the cited sources; modern summaries identify him as an asura (demon) but textual sources emphasize his role and actions rather than bodily particulars. Performance traditions (notably Bharatanatyam and regional women's dancing) preserve a recognizable 'Bhasmasura-type pose'—one hand atop the head and the other behind the back—which serves as a choreographic emblem of the episode.

Bhasmasura's defining supernatural faculty is the boon from Shiva: anyone whose head he touched with his hand would be instantly burned and reduced to bhasma (ash). After receiving the boon he becomes arrogant and attempts to use it even against Shiva. In the narrative the power is ultimately turned against him when Vishnu-as-Mohini compels him through a dance (Muktanṛtya) to place his hand on his own head, causing self-annihilation.